All,

Last year, my ladyfriend and I canoed 2,150 miles down the Mississippi River in conjuction with the Audubon Society www.sourcetosea.net

This November, I'm going to paddle the Cape Fear river from Jordan Lake down to the coast (about 200 miles over eleven days.) http://sourcetosea.net/CapeFear/capefearriver.html I'm working with several school groups during the trip. I'll be taking water quality samples, testing them for several parameters, and posting the results as I go (interactive map, GPS points, etc). I'm also going to get a discussion board up on our website to talk about the trip, water quality, and NC rivers and waterways. Afterward, I'll be doing slideshows and class talks.

If your class/group/school would like to be a part of this, feel free to PM me or email at (source2sea at gmail dot com) If you know anyone else that might be interested, please forward this post to them as well.

Take care,

-J. Swank

10/5/2006 11:04:21 AM

Cool, i'm envious.

http://www.sourcetosea.net

10/5/2006 1:11:42 PM

Hop on the Cape Fear for the last day if you want. I'll post details on the site once its firmed up with times, but I'll be leading a group of paddlers from Wilmington to the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher on Nov 11. Also doing a slideshow that night in Wilmington at the Riverwatch headquarters. Throw me an email and I'll put you on our update/newsletter list if you want.

10/5/2006 7:43:42 PM

get a life, swank. no one cares about that sh!t, G. try giving your life to God or something. fuck the youth of today. THEY ARE FUCKED !!!1. do it for some firm VAG or something. fuck the kids - they're hopeless.

10/5/2006 8:11:10 PM

^ Take it to chitchat.

10/5/2006 8:23:31 PM

I don't think my fortran students will be too interested in this.

10/6/2006 12:53:52 AM

because nobody ever does this

10/6/2006 8:44:34 AM

Does what?

The classes I've got lined up already are pretty stoked about this, and the talks I've done on the Mississippi River in the past have all gone over well. I bring the canoe into the class, do the slideshow, and the kids ask all kinds of cool questions.

Look, I'm not trying to save the world or anything, just trying get kids to think about some water quality issues. It's cool to take a relief map and show kids how drainages work, and how a city hundreds of miles away is connected in some way with folks downstream.

10/6/2006 9:06:14 AM

I wish I had time to join you

I've always wanted to float the CF all the way to the coast and the Neuse all the way to the coast

10/6/2006 10:08:10 AM

The Neuse would be cool as well. Tom, the owner of Great Outdoor Provision Company, did that when he was about 16. He and a buddy cooked up the plan to paddle down, but his mom wouldn't buy it. He carried his big ole Gruman canoe to Crabtree Creek (about a mile away), went back and got his pack, floated down and picked up his buddy, then they paddled and eventually met the Neuse. Mama wasn't too happy with him

Really though - we going to open up the last bit of the trip to the public from Wilmington to the NC Aquarium. I'll put up details on the site once things are completely ironed out. Throw me an email at source2sea at gmail dot com and I get you on our mailing list if you want.

10/6/2006 10:17:11 AM

I really respect what you're doing. Very cool, man.

I wish I could get you into my classes, but I honestly don't have any time to spare with the EOC's just over the horizon. Damn gummet tellin' me how to run my class

10/6/2006 11:19:43 AM

I hear you. We have a few teachers in the family that are close to hanging it up with all that EOC mess.

There were a group of teachers that went down the Mississippi River a few years ago that had all kinds of teaching resources and interactive lesson plans up for awhile. I'd love to do something like that at some point, but this is a start.

Actually, I'd love to end up like Peter Lourie and write, do talks and workshops, and travel all over the place. We've emailed back a forth a few times, and he seems like a very cool guy.
http://www.peterlourie.com/index.htm

10/6/2006 11:39:21 AM